put the screws on (one)

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put the screws on (one)

To exert excessive and coercive pressure, force, or threats of violence on one. The bank has really started putting the screws on me ever since I began missing my mortgage payments.I'll send one of my strong men around to him tomorrow to put the screws on him. Then we'll see if he's still so sure he won't sign the contract.

put the screws on

put the screws on

put the screws on someone

INFORMAL

If someone puts the screws on you, they use pressure or threats to make you do what they want. They had to put the screws on Harper. So far, he was the only person who might know something. Note: This is a reference to a method of torture called the thumbscrew; see the explanation at `turn the screw on someone'.

put the screws on

put the ˈscrews on (somebody)

(informal) force somebody to do something, especially by frightening and threatening them: The electricity company is really putting the screws on. We’ve got a week to pay before our supply is cut off!

This idiom refers to thumbscrews (see note above at a turn of the screw).

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